Ordinarily, I would “pen” my own description of this podcast, but I’ve recently run across a famous story, a parable really, by a famous writer/philosopher that expresses it at least as well as I could, if not better. The story/parable is entitled An Imperial Message written by none other than Franz Kafka in 1919. It sums up my sentiments nicely. This is how I feel most of the time. “I hope that someone gets my, I hope that someone gets my, I hope that someone gets my — message in a podcast, yeah.”

The story/parable is quoted below with a source link, but before I provide it I would appreciate it if you participate in the new poll I’ve provided below regarding Hae Min Lee’s murder. I provided one a couple of months prior but it’s grown stale so here’s a new fresh one. Please take the time to indicate your choice. You can check the results at the bottom of the poll if you’re curious. Thank you for your cooperation in advance.

The Emperor—so they say—has sent a message, directly from his death bed, to you alone, his pathetic subject, a tiny shadow which has taken refuge at the furthest distance from the imperial sun. He ordered the herald to kneel down beside his bed and whispered the message in his ear. He thought it was so important that he had the herald speak it back to him. He confirmed the accuracy of verbal message by nodding his head. And in front of the entire crowd of those witnessing his death—all the obstructing walls have been broken down, and all the great ones of his empire are standing in a circle on the broad and high soaring flights of stairs—in front of all of them he dispatched his herald. The messenger started off at once, a powerful, tireless man. Sticking one arm out and then another, he makes his way through the crowd. If he runs into resistance, he points to his breast where there is a sign of the sun. So he moves forwards easily, unlike anyone else. But the crowd is so huge; its dwelling places are infinite. If there were an open field, how he would fly along, and soon you would hear the marvellous pounding of his fist on your door. But instead of that, how futile are all his efforts. He is still forcing his way through the private rooms of the innermost palace. Never will he win his way through. And if he did manage that, nothing would have been achieved. He would have to fight his way down the steps, and, if he managed to do that, nothing would have been achieved. He would have to stride through the courtyards, and after the courtyards through the second palace encircling the first, and, then again, through stairs and courtyards, and then, once again, a palace, and so on for thousands of years. And if he finally burst through the outermost door—but that can never, never happen—the royal capital city, the centre of the world, is still there in front of him, piled high and full of sediment. No one pushes his way through here, certainly not someone with a message from a dead man. But you sit at your window and dream of that message when evening comes.

34 thoughts on “Episode 3 — Cherry’s Jubilee”

Thank you for proving Franz Kafka’s point. The message will not be received. At least not received by you. How could you hope to understand though if you haven’t been following the case? Of course it isn’t going to make much sense if you haven’t been following along.

I’m not as pessimistic as Kafka. The message does get through to some — very few. Very, very few. But if it reaches just one, it’s a success and worth it.

hiya! just a really small and friendly point…i’m pretty sure that on Serial when we heard NHRNC’s voice as an adult, it wasn’t actually NHRNC it was an actress reading her words. I recently relistened to the Jay episode and that’s where I remember hearing that. So, though she does indeed sound like a relative of Selma Bouvier, it’s the actress that needs to cut down on the fags, not NHRNC.

You are correct — it’s at the very end — the last ten minutes. It’s not an actress, her voice is modulated. Why does she feel compelled to disguise her voice, I wonder? As was mentioned on Undisclosed Podcast, her name is a matter of public record since she testified at the trial so there is no invasion of privacy by revealing it and it’s not as though someone couldn’t look it up if they were so inclined — and obviously a number of people were ultimately inclined.

What a lovely voice they chose for her. Not! They should have gone with the Aussie Chick like I did in my podcast and instead chose a female version of Jack Klugman. The sentiment of my satire obviously still applies. Hey Serial Podcast, please choose more attractive and becoming voices in Season 2. Attention to detail matters.

I’d be curious as to whether she smokes or not and how her voice sounds today versus the sweet, vivacious voice she possessed at age 19. I guess we’ll never know.

I’m not quite sure how to take the metaphor. It could be taken as an insult considering that movie, amongst other things, was about Feminism and conventional males’ reaction to Feminism. If so, I understand. On Twitter I mentioned “Burned Bridges.” I’ve burnt many a bridge in my short time on this planet and I’ll burn a whole lot more before it’s all said and done. All of them, without exception, were bridges to nowhere anyway, so no big loss.

You’re one of the folks I refer to as “decent” in the podcast who hangs at TMP. I appreciate the solicitation to return, but it wasn’t a rash decision. Cliques aren’t for me.

No swords. I don’t do swords or weapons of any sort. I’m not valiant, but I am a Maverick. And maybe an optimistic nihilist. It depends on the day, or which way the wind’s blowing even. Truthfully, I burn the bridges because I’m afraid of heights and I’m prosperity averse. But really, when I escape the Hive Mind and the gravitational pull of group dynamics, it frees me up to be creative. When I think alone, I prefer to be by myself.

“The normal does not exist. The average does not exist…No normalist has yet produced even a totally normal dog, an average cat, or even an ordinary chickadee. Attempts to find an average Bird of Paradise, an ordinary haiku or even a normal cardiologist have floundered pathetically. The normal, the average, the ordinary, even the typical, exist only in statistics, i.e. the human mathematical mindscape. They never appear in external space-time.”

“Thus, unless you’re an illiterate and malnourished Asian with exactly 1.04 vaginas and 0.96 testicles, living in substandard housing, you do not qualify as normal but as abnormal, subnormal, supernormal, paranormal or some variety of nonnormal.”

Nice work, but take it easy on Colin & Susan. If you have any self-awareness at all, you know that your style is not for everyone. Endorsing it can be hazardous for anyone close to “public figure” status.

I was very fair with Susan & Colin. If what you say is true about them being cautious about endorsing something as controversial as my podcast, what about Rabia? She has “public figure” status and she’s endorsed my work. In fact, I’d say Rabia has greater “public figure” status than Susan and Colin. That may be Colin’s motivation for proceeding with caution, but I’m not sensing it’s Susan’s motivation. Whatever it is, like I said in the podcast, I’ve said it and I’m done with it now. I don’t want to beat dead horses. That horse is now dead.

Love your podcast. Your sense of irony, satire, and parody are much appreciated (and necessary, imo). And your music/song choices? Talk about a cherry! Keep up the good work. Of the many post-Serial podcasts, yours is truly entertaining.

The SerialPodcast subreddit, per the GaleWarnings blog post I quoted at the end of my podcast, turned from a clique into a gang some time ago. Some Yahoo posted a link to my podcast at that subreddit as a strawman to burn to the ground. I only know this because my WordPress stats showed 450 people viewed my podcast from that link yesterday, and as a result my blog enjoyed the most views it’s ever encountered since its inception nearly two years prior. It’s amazing how many people will listen to that which they so implacably hate with all their being, or at least that’s the purposeful and strategic impression that’s given from the subreddit comments accompanying the link to my podcast. Here’s a link to the aforementioned subreddit thread and the accompanying comments (Mod 8 is chuckling, no doubt).

SeaMoose Duncanschtein is one of the Alphas of the sock puppet gang that has usurped that subreddit and helped transform it into the cyberstalking gang known fondly as The Dark Sub and GregBIS and Mewnicorns are just two of many sock puppet lieutenants (cowards who haven’t the ability or capacity to express themselves independently beyond the confines and security of The Group). What I mentioned on the latter part of my podcast about cliques and group dynamics should be taught in schools from a very early age so it can be snuffed out as a destructive behavior during a child’s formative years. Many of these sock puppet cretins at The Dark Sub are damaged beyond repair. And anyone who has watched the excellent movie Damage knows, damaged people are the most dangerous people, and since most people are damaged, the world is indeed a very dangerous place. How else do you explain nuclear weaponry that is capable of ending all life on this once beautiful planet?

I like to refer to the ass-sucking, sycophantic sock puppet lieutenants collectively as Lieutenant Dan. This is for you Lieutenant Dan, and no, it’s not a peace offering because there is no war.

Lieutenant Dan and the Alphas he services are incapable of creating and therefore they must destroy those who do create. Bukowski had it right all along and his words are as relevant today as they ever were.

What’s also of interesting note, and supports fully the contention of the GaleWarnings blog post, at least for now but I’m open to being pleasantly surprised to the contrary, is not many fans of Undisclosed Podcast are viewing my latest podcast — as though “the word is out.” The bridge is burned, but I didn’t burn it. I have always been highly complimentary of Undisclosed Podcast (even in my latest podcast on many occasions) and always will be. But, like the GaleWarnings linked blog post below underscores, the lieutenants must burn to the ground all those who dare to point out the Alpha Emperor’s nakedness (even if the Alpha Emperor is just missing a shoe or forgot to put its shirt on). The irony? My poll shows Adnan Syed is by far and away in the lead as the listeners’/viewers’ choice as Hae Min Lee’s murderer. Sad. Really sad. Typical. Expected. Predictable.

Bingo! How astute of you. You win the prize. Of course I saw that back in the day, and I’ve seen it since then. Let me get back to you on the prize. I haven’t figured out what it will be yet. I have twelve views from Greece today. Victor’s a wanted man, no doubt.

Now that I’ve figured out the dead advert link is actually a (now) working podcast (don’t ask – codecs and moar codex), I have to say, this one suxorz compared to #4. 2 hours?!? Damn, you ramblin’ hardcore! Voicemail segment (heh ‘listener’) lightens the load a bit…

How disappointing, but not entirely, or even slightly, surprising. A result borne of the baneful nature of Fandom and Free Willying. Adnan still leads in the latest whodunnit poll by five votes compared to the next highest choice. He leads because no one, and I mean no one, dare reproach the Alpha. Such is the way of the world. A few understand that — most notably for now, my acquaintance Fulcanelli.

Correction: Trump isn’t Jewish, but he may as well be. His daughter Ivanka is. She converted because her husband Jared Kushner is Jewish. Not that it matters, but for the sake of accuracy in satire I thought I would point it out.

This pretty much sums up the comments I made in the latter part of my podcast. Crackers are all about “well-reasoned (and friendly!) discussion,” aren’t they? Like Susan said, good job, Ann. You’ve proposed a solid, well-reasoned, friendly (the most important part) and believable theory as to why Adnan is guilty. And, you’ve managed to garner an endorsement from Susan Simpson in the process.

Considering this insanity, I’m now actually quite pleased I’m not acknowledged by Susan. It’s the greatest compliment she could give me. Thanks, Susan. Keep on keeping on, like I said in my comment to your blog post. It’s all a big fucking game, and meanwhile Adnan rots in jail as national merit scholars turned attorneys applaud friendly theories about how guilty he is based off hunches about men’s raping nature. Serendipitous satire at its finest.

A famous, or not so famous, person once said, “if Cold N. Holefield didn’t exist, we’d have to make him up.” I beg to differ. It should read, “if Ann Brockleway & SeaMews Duncanschtein didn’t exist, ‘they’ would have to make them up.” And maybe they did. Something to ponder, especially considering the attention and moral support afforded the asswipes. Way to keep it “classy” guys — and gals.

Great @SerialDynasty episode, and thanks to @AnnB03 and Bob for the interesting, well-reasoned (and friendly!) discussion.

If Errol was motivated for all the right reasons, there would have been no need for a law suit and Errol would have fully understood and appreciated Adams’ wishes regarding HIS life story. A prime example of the Free Willy mentality.

After spending 13 years in a cell, waging a legal war against the Dallas County justice system that wrongly convicted him of murdering a police officer, Randall Dale Adams is still fighting for his life–or more appropriately, his life story.

This time his opponent is Errol Morris, the film director whose critically acclaimed documentary “The Thin Blue Line” turned Adams into a cause celebre and was instrumental in getting his murder verdict overturned and eventually getting Adams released from prison.

“From today forward, I want to direct my life, my case, the way I feel it should be directed,” Adams, 40, said Wednesday from his home in Grove City, Ohio.

Adams has always embraced and praised Morris for his role in freeing him from prison. He says he still counts Morris as a close “part of the family,” but is forced to look out for his own interests. Morris said he was shocked to learn Adams is suing him.

“Quite clearly our relationship has changed,” Morris said. “I’m hurt and dismayed by all of it, because none of this needed to happen. It’s been unnecessary.”

Adams’ lawsuit charges that Morris lost his rights to Adams’ story in December, 1988, because he did not exercise an option to extend a two-year agreement. Morris and his attorney claim that the option was exercised, and in two weeks they will try to prove it in a federal court……..

Click the link behind the article’s title above for the rest — it’s worth the read.

According to Ann Brocklewurst’s twisted but friendly and well-reasoned logic, Adams, shown above with a fabulous afro, is clearly a rapist-murderer and should have remained behind bars.

The following is from the linked article that no one has bothered to read and no one will ever read — they’re too busy repeating history.

“In a morbid sense, I understand what happened to me,” said Adams, whose sentence was eventually commuted to life imprisonment. “In Dallas County, the Wood murder was the longest unsolved murder. They sacrificed me to public outrage, to appease the common good.”

Exactly, Randall. It’s about sacrifice to Moloch, at least metaphorically. So long as the sacrifices continue unabated, the social order remains intact, and that’s the most important thing of all — the social order. The real social order.

Errol Morris makes some great philosophical comments in his interview with Bill Moyers about the making of The Thin Blue Line. It’s important to revisit this famous “Documentary” and the case it covered, because it’s essentially where it all began. Not that anyone will look at this, but I’m depositing it for posterity’s sake just in case a little lost sheep stumbles upon it.